Back(log) to the Front: Week 9 and 10

Nine weeks in and I missed writing a week. In my defense, I was busy reviewing The Caligula Effect: Overdose, so my limited time was spent playing mostly one game. I was able to play something prior to that review posting and some games after, so I decided to combine the two weeks.

As a heads up, there is a chance I miss next week. The family and I are going out of town, so it all depends on potential downtime.

On to the games!

Rise of Insanity

I am quite fond of horror games, especially the more defenseless feeling atmospheric ones. Rise of Insanity is a psychological horror game where there isn’t really a threat, and closer to a walking sim with jump scares mixed in.

It’s hard to talk about a game that isn’t terribly long (I finished it in about two hours) without potentially spoiling anything. So to simply sum up the story, you play as a psychologist who is going through the after-effects of choices made to help out the psyche of your son. This unfortunately leads to other events occurring that play out in a nightmarish remembrance of a horrific night.

Vague enough for you? I hope so. It’s a pretty by-the-numbers story with a little twist at the end. Some of it is told in flashback form, some of it in newspaper clippings or even disembodied voices. As someone who hates the idea of plot carried entirely through audio logs or diary entries, it’s appreciated to have other methods of the story playing out.

Most of the scenery itself isn’t that frightening though there are moments where it may change to become unsettling. Nothing really new or crazy here, but effective in part to not being an all-the-time thing.

As I previously mentioned, Rise of Insanity relies heavily on jump scares. Loud noises and sudden appearances accompanied by a scream or whatever is usually the culmination of any buildup, and that’s a tad disappointing. I always find these type of scares cheap, though easier to pull off.

Rise of Insanity isn’t the next PT or Amnesia, and that’s okay. For the right price, it’s something worth trying out at the very least. I did record some gameplay that you can check out here to see if anything grabs your interest, so give it a looksie!

LEGO The Incredibles

I’m not sure how to feel about LEGO The Incredibles. I only played a short time with my son as we ran around the city trying to grab a number of bricks for unlockables, but there were changes from the last LEGO game I played.

For instance, there are special rainbow blocks that create special structures in the open world. Could be a statue or a building of some sort and I would often find the only real rewards from it were coins and a gold brick if I remember right. Then there was the other weird thing.

So part of why I like the comic book LEGO games are the characters included in the roster. The Incredibles clearly doesn’t have that sort of depth, so they pull from other Pixar movies. Russell from UP? He’s in it. Lightning McQueen too. Even the table lamp that smashes the “i” in Pixar. Running around as some of these characters is a bit weird in the Incredibles world, but charming and still fun to unlock at the very least.

While having evolved, the LEGO games do still retain some of its old trappings. Some characters have trouble solving much of anything in the world while others have more at their disposal. At some point it’s worth asking – why would I switch out this character who can do everything I want to get done? Just to see another character in action I guess? If that’s the only incentive than….ok? Won’t work for me, but I’m sure children will flock to many of these well known characters despite the setbacks with their abilities.

LEGO The Incredibles comes off as a stop-gap for the more ambitious comic book titles. It’s still a serviceable game that scratches that collectathon itch, but I would heavily recommend one of the Marvel or DC games over this.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered

Not to toot my own horn, but I was a boss at Call of Duty 3 multiplayer. Even those who did glitch on that dam level didn’t stand a chance. Those people you see getting 65 kills to 7 deaths? That was me with Call of Duty 3. Then came Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Let’s say….things weren’t the same.

So now with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered released on PS+, I decided to hop back into the multiplayer and see how I would do. I am glad to announce that all these years later, I am still the multiplayer whipping boy to those who enjoy destroying noobs.

I think I realized why I have never been a fan of the RPG elements in multiplayer, especially with Call of Duty. As someone terrible at the game, the rate of experience I receive is much slower than what is ideal. Meaning that I typically have worse guns for longer than those better at the game and quickly leveling up resulting in better weapons making them even better. Its like a double lose for those not great at the game.

This is made even worse when the matchmaking still seems as terrible as I recall it being originally. If I am playing Team Deathmatch, can anyone explain why matching up a team of beginners to go against a team of people, who are clearly far from being beginners themselves, a fair fight? The likelihood of a level 1 dude outclassing a prestiged player is not good.

Also, I still hate killstreaks. Yet another indication of how awful I am doing in comparison to other players.

I know full well I’m an outlier with this game. Ever since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, I’ve never been invested with the series. I found my interest in Battlefield games though. Having the capability to contribute by more than just kill/death ratio is much more my speed. From what I can tell though, if you enjoyed the original release, then this remastered version will satisfy you too.

A few hectic weeks and some more coming up. Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 releases soon and I can’t help but feel excited. I enjoyed my time with the first game and hope the sequel features many updates. I’ve been on blackout mode for it, so hopefully the reviews come out good.

As for us here at Los Harrow Games, check out many of the going-ons we have around on the site here. Below are a few things to keep you busy!